Netgear has announced a strategic alliance agreement with VAD Optimus Technology and Telecommunications, to distribute its SMB products across the Middle East and Africa region.

Optimus will target the SMB segment across the region, and will have exclusive rights to several countries including Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.

The agreement will meet Netgear's need for a distributor that could provider value-add services to product distribution in the region, according to the company.

Ahmad Zeidan, regional channel sales manager at Netgear Middle East commented: "The opportunity in the SMB market continues to be strong and it is important for Netgear to further ensure that we are optimally meeting the demand of the market with an effective distribution strategy. Optimus, being a reputed value-added distributor with tremendous expertise in the networking space, will enhance Netgear's channel network in the Middle East and Africa territory by conducting channel development and marketing activities in the designated markets."

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The deal will allow Optimus to add Netgear's mid-market networking and storage solutions to its portfolio, including its ProSafe switch range, ProSecure Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances, and the ReadyNAS line of business and consumer NAS solutions. Analyst company Gartner has identified Netgear as one of the few UTM vendors that is able to address the three key midsize infrastructure challenges of security, data backup and protection, and network infrastructure.

Optimus will provide its Optimus 360° suite of services, which includes sales, marketing, pre and post sales support, to drive Netgear's visibility, reach and support in the region.

"Netgear has been one of the faster growing networking brands in the region and we are quite proud to forge an association with the brand as a distributor. We will look forward to further strengthen the brand as one of the market leaders in the SMB segment, which is the mainstay for Netgear in the business segment. I am confident that our strong presence in markets like Qatar and other GCC markets will benefit the brand's growth along with the dedicated focus we give all brands that we work with," said Meera Kaul, managing director, Optimus.

"This partnership is very important to Optimus as it provides access to a range of mid-market networking, storage and security solutions that are technically strong, yet highly price competitive. Netgear solutions complement Optimus by enabling it to provide a solution offering in the SMB space," added Suraj Thampi, Group CEO, Optimus.